Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

This month was terrible for our photos! Our server crashed and that is where we have been storing all our pics since 2005! B is still working on restoring the photos and rebuilding the server. On top of that I also accidentally deleted most of the pics I'd taken this month, off my camera! Christmas Eve: We mostly stayed home. Baked candycane bread, for our Christmas breakfast and cookies for Santa.

Sniffity dealt with a really loose tooth all day,
that after two weeks of being really loose finally fell out!
In the evening we headed out for our traditional Christmas Eve Ice Skating and dinner out.

B and the girls had a great time!
I did too!
When we got home we watched the Santa Clause. Then the girls got ready for bed. They also got to open one present, this year it was the present from B's Aunt in Indy.

Here is what E set out for Santa this year along with the cookies and cocoa for Santa. There are several letters and more in the blue box. (She wrote about letters and drew pictures for him, as well as questionnaires he had to fill out! She also crocheted him and the Mrs. some scarves.)

We had a fun morning. The girls and the dog all seemed
pretty happy with all of their gifts.

What every girl dog dreams of a cell phone and a guinea pig (toy)!

Sniffity lined all her presents up before opening them.

Santa brought what mom didn't want her to have for Christmas! Flower Fairy seemed pretty excited over one of the many
panda gifts she received this Christmas.

Her fav gift this year was from FF. A pack of Mustaches!

November

So I don't have all of our photos from November but this is what I do have.
(Where's October? See December post)

I took the girls Ice Skating the day after the outdoor rink opened.

It was great because it was while schools were still in session.
It was also pretty warm so the ice was slushy but they are pros and we had no falls. I love this photo of the girls because I have so many photos of myself
with my eyes closed. I think my mom was always trying to get good
lighting on us so I always had the sun shining my face.
The only reason I had them stand there is because the rink was about
be cleaned by the Zamboni and they had to get off the ice asap.

Our homeschool group had a science fair.
Sniffity some research on Dog's Digestive Systems
and made an interactive display to show what she learned.

We went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving this year.
I showed the girls how to make butter in a jar.

Sniffity and Cupcake Princess had a lot of fun but also got a bit
frustrated because it took close to 15 minutes to see any results.

October Highlights

Well I still don't have all the photos from October but I have found some and am able to show some highlights.  

Flower Fairy and I went on a Floating Marine Lab with our Homeschool group

We met at Downtown Disney with my sister and her kids. 

For Halloween Flower Fairy and her friend dressed up as boys. 

B and his "son"

 Sniffity as a devil with friends. 

 Checking the loot. 

 Sniffity and friends sort then trade. It's like watching stock trading!

Making deals

Yosemite

We went to Yosemite in October.  Many of the photos from that trip got lost when the server crashed.  However, I have found some and here are the highlights.  We had a wonderful time and Yosemite remains one of our favorite vacation destinations.  

September

Flower Fairy was really sick for the first two weeks of Sept.
We officially began our school year though.
Sniffity is now in 2nd grade and FF is in 6th grade.
FF did a little work on the computer since
she wasn't able to do much else.
Once Flower Fairy was feeling better we made another trip to LACMA
see the Tim Burton exhibit. We wanted to go again when we knew
there'd be no crowds. We met two of my sisters and Auntie A. there.
Both girls really liked it.
We also spent some time checking out the Modern Art.
The girls really got a kick out of what was considered art.
White plates.
Blue bowls.
Blue "balloon" Dog
Sniffity has been refusing to smile for photos lately.
This one made me laugh because I have many photos of
B making this face for pictures. She is her daddy's girl.
They have new display of statues of the Chinese Zodiac.
FF was born the year of the dragon.
We still debate what Sniffity is because her birthday falls in the middle of two
animals. Here in the U.S. it was still the year of the Ram but in China it was
already the year of the Monkey. On the day she was born, I was watching the news
in the hospital and they were showing the New Year celebrations in China.
So we took a picture of her with both.
Another thing the girls love about LACMA...
It's next to the tar pits and they love playing with the giant sloths.

When we got home the girls were inspired by all the
art and decided to do some chalk drawings.

Flower Fairy has was also drawing a lot in Sept.
She created these little characters and drew about 50+.

We went to dinner with Cupcake Princess to celebrate Flower Fairy
and Skater Boys birthdays. Unfortunately, it was scheduled before FF
got sick and she ended up having to miss it.
We took a photo of FF so she didn't have to miss out.
Cupcake Princess enjoyed talking to her cousin.
I just love this picture of Cupcake Princess saying good-bye to FF!

This month both girls started new sports.

Sniffity is doing gymnastics.

Flower Fairy is on a swim team. This was something that
B and I talked her into/made her do. We felt she need to
have a regular physical outlet and her swim teacher had been suggesting
Swim Team for her for the past couple of years so we signed her up.
So far she is liking it a lot. She got bumped up from the first level to
the second level pretty quickly. She says it's hard but she does like it.